Meter-seal.



E. H. BURGBST 6; C. LONDIK. METER SEAL.

APPLIOATION FILED DBo.11.19os

936,862. A Patented oet. 12,1909.

(fi/MM y 5m@ UNITED sTATEs PATENT oFFioE.

EMANUEL I-I. BURGEST AND CHARLES LON DICK, '0F THREE RIVERS, MICHIGAN.

METER-SEAL.

' 'Specification of Letters Patent.

To all 'whom t may concern.-

Be it known that we, EMANUEL H. BUR- GEsT and CHARLES LONDICK, citizens of the United States, residing at Three Rivers, in the county of St. Joseph and State of Michigan, have invented new and useful Improvements in Meter-Seals, of which the following is a specication.

This invention relates to seals designed especially for water and other meters for preventing any person from tampering with the internal mechanism or registering device of the meter by rendering the joint between the service pipe and meter and the cap or cover of the registering device inaccessible so that they cannot be disconnected.

The invention has for one of its objects to improve and simplify the construction of meter seals of this character so as to be comparatively simple and inexpensive to manufacture, readily applied in position, and reliable and satisfactory in use.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a seal which simultaneously protects the cap or cover for the registering device and thejoint between the meter and service pipe.

With these objects in view and others, as will appear as the description proceeds, the inventlon comprises the various novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which will be more fully described hereinafter and set forth with particularity in the claim appended hereto.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates certain embodiments of the invention, Figure 1 is a side view of a meter with the seal applied thereto. Fig. 1a is a sectional view on line a-a, Fig. 1. Fig. 2 is a side view of a meter showing the modied form of seal. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the modied form.

Similar reference characters are employed to designate corresponding parts throughout the views.

Referring to the drawing, A designates a meter of ordinary construction which is provided with a capl that forms a cover for the registering mechanism of the meter, and the meter is connected with a service pipe 2 by the usual clamping nut 3. The seal, designated generally by B, is so designed as to prevent the joint of the nut 3 from being disconnected or the cap 1 from being removed from the meter. For this purpose, the seal consists of a ring 4f which lits over the cap to prevent access to the screws that hold the cap in position, and the seal also comprises a U-shaped housing or yoke 5 that spans the coupling nut 3 so as to prevent access thereto and the ring and housing 5 are connected together by a wire 6 that passes through an opening at 7 in the ring and openings 8 in the side members of the yoke or housing, the ends of the wire being twisted together at 9 and provided with a sealing member such as a disk of lead 10 so that the ends cannot be untwisted without detection. It will thus be seen that the ring and housing are held in position by the wire and as long as the wire is unsevered or the ends twisted and sealed together, it is impossible to remove the housing or ring. As shown in Fig. 1a, the wire extends from one side member of the housing to the other to form a cross-bar 11 disposed over the top of the coupling nut 8 so that the housing cannot be detached. In the construction lPatented. Oct. 12, 1909. `Application led December l11, 1908. Serial No. 467,093.

shown in Fig. 2, the ring and housing are connected together by a strip of metal 12 and the-housing or yoke 5 is inverted so as to straddle the service pipe and coupling nut, and a sealing wire 13 is passed through the openings 14 in the side members of the housing and the ends of the wire twisted at 15 and sealed by a disk 16, for the purpose of preventing the housing from being removed.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, the advantages of the construction and of the method of operation will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art to which the invention appertains, and while we have described the principle of operation of the invention, together with the device which we now consider to be' the best embodiment thereof, we desire to have it understood that the device shown is merely illustrative, and that such changes may be made when desired as are within the scope of the claim appended hereto.

Having thus described the invention, what we claim is In combination with a water meter em# bodying a cap closing the registering mechanism, and a coupling nut for connecting the meter to the service pipe, a member fitted to said cap, a U-shaped member embracing three edges and opposite sides of the coupling nut and placed in position thereon by a relative sliding movement of the nut through the open side, connecting means l In testimony whereof we aHiX our signabetween the two members and preventing tures 1n presence of two Witnesses.

their relative dis lacement, and a seal closing the open enci) of the U-shaped member INIEIES'I and positively connected with the side pieces thereof and serving to prevent re- Witnesses:

moval of the protecting means Without de WM. E. BARNARD,

tection. W. H. WILSON. 

